Eckerd pharmacy school funds help fuel its recruitment efforts

Drug Store News, Oct 20, 2003 by James Frederick

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Eckerd Corp. is matching its patient care initiatives at its pharmacy counters with an aggressive effort to attract newly minted pharmacists to its stores through millions of dollars in student scholarships and loans.

Since 1968, the chain has committed more than $5.7 million to pharmacy education, according to company spokeswoman Joan Gallagher. The money, which Eckerd clearly sees as an investment in its future, has provided financial support for some of the 16,500 pharmacists and pharmacy employees that serve the chain's more than 2,700 drug stores.

In the most recent and dramatic example of its largest contribution to pharmacy education, the chain broke ground Sept. 23 on the Eckerd Pharmacy Education Center at the St. Petersburg College campus of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy (see "Eckerd donates $1.1M to Fla. campus," Drug Store News, Oct. 6, 2003, page 4). The chain provided $1.125 million in seed money for a new academic building with classroom space, as well as pharmacy lab facilities at the campus, which serves as a fully accredited branch of the University of Florida, which is based in Tallahassee.

Construction of the new center will be completed in time for the 2004-2005 academic year, company officials said.

Eckerd spokeswoman Tami Alderman said that in addition to the funds for the University Partnership Center, the chain will provide nearly $400,000 in total funding this year for students in pharmacy, business and finance. Among its programs is the Eckerd Pharmacy Student Loan Program, which has provided financial support to students and employees attending an accredited college or university for more than a decade. Qualified students are eligible for loans ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 per school year to be used toward their $12,000 to $25,000 annual tuition costs and are not required to pay back the loan while they are in school, Alderman stated.

"For each year they are employed by Eckerd as a full-time pharmacist following graduation, they have one year's loan repayment canceled," she noted in a statement earlier this month. The program, she added, has provided $1.5 million in loans to thousands of students over the past three years and has given the chain a critical source of pharmacy graduates "trained at some of the best schools of pharmacy in the country."

Eckerd also provides its own employees, along with their spouses and children, with a scholarship program called Scholastic Stars. Over the past three years, the chain has allocated more than $100,000 in scholarships to the Stars program, which focuses on promising students who major in pharmacy, business or finance.

Since the late 1990s, Eckerd also has donated $20,000 annually to support the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation Pharmacy Partners Scholarship Program.

"Eckerd is committed to providing students with the scholarships they need,to realize their ambitions, said Dennis Miller, senior vice president, chief financial officer and chairman of the Eckerd Corp. Foundation. "Financial barriers should not stand in the way of a future career in pharmacy."